Ex-Ford Chief Received $23 Million in 2001

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: April 10, 2002

DEARBORN, Mich., April 9—
Jacques A. Nasser, the ousted chief executive of the Ford Motor Company, received a compensation package worth $23 million as part of his 2001 pay and retirement.

The company lost $5.5 billion last year, its worst performance since 1992.

Mr. Nasser received $1.75 million in base pay and no bonus. In 2000, he received $1.63 million in base pay and a $7.7 million bonus.

Mr. Nasser also received $3.1 million in compensation from long-term incentive deals last year. And he received options to buy about 1.4 million shares that the company valued at $12.9 million on the date granted.

Mr. Nasser's options are worthless unless Ford stock rebounds and passes $30.19, but he has until 2011 to exercise them.

Mr. Nasser will also receive a cash payment equivalent to the value of 350,000 shares, which he will collect 18 months after his Oct. 30, 2001, retirement date. At current prices, that payment would be worth $5.3 million.

Mr. Nasser could also receive an additional 250,000 to 750,000 shares of Ford stock if the company meets certain future performance targets.

Mr. Nasser, 54, served for 34 years at the company and almost three as chief executive. Many financial analysts said that during his tenure, Ford Motor went from being the strongest of the Big Three domestic automakers financially to arguably the weakest.

He was replaced by William Clay Ford Jr., a family heir who had already served as chairman. In January, Mr. Ford, 44, and his new management team announced that the company would undertake an overhaul that would include eliminating 35,000 jobs worldwide, mostly in the United States, and five plant closings.

''These days you have pay packages all over the board, and even failed executives can walk away with $50 million,'' said Efraim Levy, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. ''By those standards, it's acceptable,'' he said of Mr. Nasser's pay package. ''But I think if you don't do well, you shouldn't be rewarded,'' he added.

Because of the company's struggles last year, none of its top management received bonus payments, leading to a 60 percent decline in the cash compensation paid to the top five executives. Mr. Ford declined pay and bonus last year and took options instead.

''It seems to me, while everybody else in the company is asked to tighten their belts, that I ought to step up and do it,'' he said at a news conference earlier in the year, while acknowledging that such a step would not create any financial hardship for him.

His timing was somewhat fortuitous. Because Mr. Ford took his job late in the year, Ford Motor's stock had been cut in half and his options were set at a far more attractive price than those of other top executives. While Ford stock must pass $30.19 for the options of most executives to be worth anything, Mr. Ford's 48,543 shares were set at an exercise price of just $15.36.

Donald A. Winkler, the chairman of Ford Financial who was ousted last December, received a package worth $1.4 million in salary and options last year. The deterioration of Ford Financial and its lending practices under Mr. Winkler's tenure were a source of considerable concern on Wall Street.

Nicholas V. Scheele, Ford Motor's president and chief operating officer, received a package worth $1.2 million. Wolfgang Reitzle, Ford's group vice president who oversees its premium brands like Jaguar and Volvo, received a package worth $2.6 million.

Mr. Scheele and Mr. Reitzle are two top lieutenants in Mr. Ford's effort to revive the company. In its 2001 annual report, Mr. Ford is pictured in front of a picture of Henry Ford, his great-grandfather.

He begins a letter to shareholders by writing ''our results in 2001 were unacceptable.''